The First Night
by mistyblue814
Summary: This is a small AU fluff piece that captures a small moment in the first night after Kanan and Hera's daughter, Dawn Syndulla, is born.


Even as she was waking up, Hera felt exhausted. Almost immediately the feeling of the dull ache through her body was slowly becoming apparent to her again. She moved slightly, immediately regretting it a second after as she felt a sharp jab of pain all up through every muscle in her body. She gritted her teeth to swallow the pain before moving back in the position she was in before, curling up against a familiar body beside her. The pain dulled again and she let out a small sigh of relief.

As she laid down, she took in what she could from her hearing. It was incredibly silent around her. No one was moving in her house and there was no crying baby. She opened her eyes a little, her eyelids feeling heavy from the past many hours of the night and early morning before. Her gaze moved to the only small window of the room and she saw that it was dark out on the other side. That surprised her a little. She hadn't been up much all day except for when she had to care for the newborn, but honestly she never had any time to appreciate the sun. The only time she had done that was when she noticed that the sun was rising just a few moments after she first had her daughter, also after six hours of labout. She probably didn't notice the sunshine before because she was so tired. She slept most of the day then. Her grandmother and father and anyone else in the building must've been asleep.

Hera tried to settle in the pillows again to ease any soreness in her lower region, but she couldn't move that much without feeling sharp electrical pain move in her body.

"You alright?" she heard Kanan's voice whisper softly from beside her.

Moving slowly, Hera finally relented to the new position as she curled against her husband.

"I'm fine," Hera whispered. "Just sore."

She watched Kanan nod before she noticed that there was something cuddled against him in his arms and against his chest. Hera's heart skipped a beat and her tired eyes widened to take in the sight of the sleeping baby that was resting in her father's arms. She looked so peaceful and happy. She knew she was safe in those arms and it seemed to show by the peace on the newborn's face.

Hera smiled as she looked at the baby, feeling warmth move through her body with every second that she was staring at her.

"Your father was holding her not too long ago," Kanan told her, his voice still soft as he spoke to her. "I think he went to bed a little over an hour ago."

Hera nodded, her eyes moving from his eyes to the baby, still wrapped and sleeping soundly in his arms. She smiled, her head and parts of her shoulders still propped up against her pillows. She reached over, moving closer slightly to Kanan's side and her fingertips moved along the top of the blanket over the child's stomach. She felt the baby's stomach slowly rising and falling in steady beats.

"I'm glad he got some time with her," she whispered back.

Kanan nodded, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"He loves her," Kanan smiled at the thought. "Every time he sees her there is like this…pulse and beacon in the Force. I'm pretty sure he was in a rocking chair and smiling down at her for hours."

Hera couldn't help but have a smile forming on her face either. She easily recalled the memory of her father's face during the whole labour. He had kept his distance but at the same time, he was close enough that he was ready to hold her if asked. He watched everything, or mostly everything and made sure to stay at a particular angle so that he wouldn't miss anything and could still watch over her.

She remembered the beaming smile her father wore when his mother-in-law handed the newborn girl to her parents and she his shocked reaction when Kanan jumped into the small pool of hot water to sit beside her while still fully clothed in his own sleepwear, his one arm wrapped around her and both hands in hers, encouraging her right beside her all through the labour. Hera almost would have laughed if she wasn't in so much pain as she leaned against Kanan for support.

Throughout the entire experience, both her pregnancy and the birth, Kanan had never once left her side. Not once. For those last six hours he was in the whole way, holding her until the end and rejoicing in their miracle with her. He was there for comfort and to encourage her and she'd never be able to express how thankful she was for that.

Staring at the baby's face, watching it carefully, the memory of seeing that face for the first time was still fresh in her memory. Perhaps the details of the end of pushing was a bit blurry, remembering the relieving feeling that something had exited her and hearing the sound of crying as well as the sound of her grandmother declaring that it was "definitely a baby girl", before Hera held out her hands, eager and begging to hold her child.

When Dawn was set in her hands, Hera couldn't help but smile and let out an airy laugh of happiness as she stared down at the screaming child. She remembered being exhausted and aching at the same time, but the image of her daughter being placed in her arms seemed to make all of that disappear. For a moment, Hera never felt so happy as she held her daughter and her fingers gently moved over the bumps of her small-formed lekku and her cheeks. Kanan beside her, his one arm still wrapped around her, was smiling and letting out his own happy gasps as his one hand moved across the child's head.

She was beautiful then and she still was. She was the most gorgeous thing that Hera had ever seen.

"I've been messaging people today while you were resting too," Kanan told her. "I've been messaging the rest of the crew on and off today. They're excited to see you when they can, and they are excited to meet her."

Hera smiled softly, thinking of Dawn meeting the rest of her family.

"Maybe we can get them to come in tomorrow," Hera told him. "Even if I'm not awake they can still visit her."

"I'll wait to tell them to come over when you're awake so you see them too. I know that they want to see how you are doing too," Kanan told her. "And Rex sends his congratulations to us and says that everything on the base is going well."

"That's good to hear," Hera agreed and Kanan nodded in agreement. For the past couple of weeks Rex had been giving them updates to keep them informed about what was going on around the Rebellion and the bases. Only once were the rest of the Ghost Crew requested back for a mission, but it was only for an emergency run. But nothing had gone weary while they were there, thankfully.

They were silent for a moment, just the two of them in the bed together with their daughter, the most beautiful being in the galaxy.

Hera was still gently rubbing her daughter's stomach when she heard Kanan ask softly.

"Hera?"

"Yes, love?"

"…what does she look like?"

Hera looked up at him for a moment before she smiled. Staring down at their daughter, she gently took his free hand and guided it along the top of her daughter's head.

"She mostly looks like a Twi'lek baby. Like baby Twi'lek's she has the bumps of her lekku starting. Although some don't most do at least have small bumps," Hera explained, letting her husband feel the soft skin of the bumps.

Kanan gently felt over the bumps, smiling to himself as he tried to create the picture in his mind. Hera continued, holding his hand again to guide it.

"She also has green skin, like mine," Hera told him, smiling at his widening smile. The baby slept soundly still, almost relishing in her parents' touches. Hera guided his fingers to a couple of splotch patches on her skin, "but she has some spots of your skin on her as well. Can you feel the difference?"

Kanan's fingers traced the one splotch that was near her eye, moving his hand a bit further away until he felt the noticeable difference of when the splotch stopped.

"Yes," he beamed. "How many?"

Hera's hand guided his as they counted the small number of them on her face. The entire time, Kanan looked astonished, but was beaming heavily.

Although she never said it out loud, Hera always hoped that her daughter would carry on the green gene. Her mother and her grandmother and her great grandmother before all had green skin like hers. Hera always hoped she could pass that along. She got her wish.

However, that wasn't the only gift she received when she finally had her daughter.

"She has my nose and cheek-bones. Father says that she looks like me, but to be honest she reminds me of you. She has your chin," Hera explained softly before she remembered the best wish of all, "and she has your eyes."

Kanan's smile widened.

"Really?" he asked.

Hera nodded and answered, "yes. And they are just as beautiful as yours."

When her daughter's eyes had finally opened, giving away their colour, Hera never thought her heart would melt as it did because _Force_ she _missed_ those eyes. Out of all the images she had in her mind about her daughter, she always pictured her with Kanan's eyes and hoped that her child would inherit them.

She'd never felt so happy seeing those eyes again.

Hera smiled down at her daughter.

"She's the most beautiful thing in the world," Hera told him with a soft smile.

Kanan turned his head and kissed the top of her head.

"Because she's like you," Kanan told her gently before grinning, "thank the Force."

Hera smiled herself and shook her head at his antics, but was too tired to joke back. Instead, she let out a yawn before her hand set on his wrist.

"Love, you should be getting some sleep the same time that she is. Pretty soon she is going to be awake," Hera told him gently.

However, it seemed that Kanan didn't hear her warning.

"I'll be fine," he told her gently, sensing that she was still in slight aching pain from soreness and was still tired. "You get some more sleep before she wakes up."

Hera thought about cautioning her husband again, but decided against the idea when she saw Kanan's face. Still curled up beside him, Hera closed her eyes but the image of Kanan smiling down at her daughter stayed with her, as though he'd rather spend the rest of his days staying up to hold her.


End file.
